Updated Garabagh settlement outline ‘enables talks on all-rounded accord’
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has said an updated
version of the Madrid principles, a peace outline on settling the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict proposed by
the OSCE mediators in 2007, makes it possible to discuss a
comprehensive agreement.
"In my view, Armenia should accept the updated version of the Madrid principles. But they say they cannot as there are some points they do not agree with. Negotiations are currently underway on those points."
Mammadyarov said several international organizations and countries have stated it was high time the Garabagh dispute was resolved.
"Both heads of the OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairing countries, Kazakhstan, which chairs the OSCE, as well as Spain, which heads the European Union, have declared the year 2010 will be crucial from the point of view of finding a solution to the conflict. Similar statements were made by the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Joao Soares and the assembly’s special representative on the dispute Goran Lennmarker. And it means the whole international community awaits progress in the problem and hopes the occupied lands will be liberated and refugees will return to their homes," the Azerbaijani minister said.
The Madrid Document covers Armenian withdrawal from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, the return of Azerbaijani refugees displaced during the armed conflict in the early 1990s to their native lands, opening communication links, and providing suitable conditions for the co-existence of the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Upper Garabagh.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but Armenia continues to occupy Upper Garabagh and seven other Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law. Despite numerous rounds of OSCE-brokered negotiations, peace talks have been fruitless so far and refugees remain stranded.*
"In my view, Armenia should accept the updated version of the Madrid principles. But they say they cannot as there are some points they do not agree with. Negotiations are currently underway on those points."
Mammadyarov said several international organizations and countries have stated it was high time the Garabagh dispute was resolved.
"Both heads of the OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairing countries, Kazakhstan, which chairs the OSCE, as well as Spain, which heads the European Union, have declared the year 2010 will be crucial from the point of view of finding a solution to the conflict. Similar statements were made by the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Joao Soares and the assembly’s special representative on the dispute Goran Lennmarker. And it means the whole international community awaits progress in the problem and hopes the occupied lands will be liberated and refugees will return to their homes," the Azerbaijani minister said.
The Madrid Document covers Armenian withdrawal from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, the return of Azerbaijani refugees displaced during the armed conflict in the early 1990s to their native lands, opening communication links, and providing suitable conditions for the co-existence of the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Upper Garabagh.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but Armenia continues to occupy Upper Garabagh and seven other Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law. Despite numerous rounds of OSCE-brokered negotiations, peace talks have been fruitless so far and refugees remain stranded.*
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